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      • The Arts
        January 1905

        The Elements of Drawing

        by John Ruskin

        Can drawing — sound, honest representation of the world as the eye sees it, not tricks with the pencil or a few "effects" — be learned from a book? One of the most gifted draftsmen, who is also one of the greatest art critics and theorists of all time, answers that question with a decided "Yes." He is John Ruskin, the author of this book, a classic in art education as well as a highly effective text for the student and amateur today. The work is in three parts, cast in the form of letters to a student, successively covering "First Practice," "Sketching from Nature," and "Colour and Composition." Starting with the bare fundamentals (what kind of drawing pen to buy; shading a square evenly), and using the extremely practical method of exercises which the student performs from the very first, Ruskin instructs, advises, guides, counsels, and anticipates problems with sensitivity. The exercises become more difficult, developing greater and greater skills until Ruskin feels his reader is ready for watercolors and finally composition, which he treats in detail as to the laws of principality, repetition, continuity, curvature, radiation, contrast, interchange, consistency, and harmony. All along the way, Ruskin explains, in plain, clear language, the artistic and craftsmanlike reasons behind his practical advice — underlying which, of course, is Ruskin's brilliant philosophy of honest, naturally observed art which has so much affected our aesthetic. Three full-page plates and 48 woodcuts and diagrams (the latter from drawings by the author) show the student what the text describes. An appendix devotes many pages to the art works which may be studied with profit.

      • Biography & True Stories
        March 1905

        Chopin: The Man and His Music

        by James Huneker

        Chopin: The Man and His Music reflects the intimate, thorough knowledge of Chopin's music that Huneker acquired while studying to be a concert pianist and his unusually keen insight into the character of the great Polish composer whose music he adored.

      • Lifestyle, Sport & Leisure
        March 1905

        Dogs and All about Them

        by Robert Leighton

        The popularity of the dog as a companion, as a guardian of property, as an assistant in the pursuit of game, and as the object of a pleasurable hobby, has never been so great as it is at the present time.

      • Historical fiction
        February 1905

        Les Misérables

        by Victor Hugo

        Examining the nature of law and grace, the novel elaborates upon the history of France, the architecture and urban design of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. Les Misérables has been popularized through numerous adaptations for the stage, television, and film, including a musical and a film adaptation of that musical.

      • Family & home stories (Children's/YA)
        February 1905

        Little Women

        by Louise May Alcott

        Little Women "has been read as a romance or as a quest, or both. It has been read as a family drama that validates virtue over wealth", but also "as a means of escaping that life by women who knew its gender constraints only too well".[6]:34 According to Sarah Elbert, Alcott created a new form of literature, one that took elements from Romantic children's fiction and combined it with others from sentimental novels, resulting in a totally new format. Elbert argued that within Little Women can be found the first vision of the "All-American girl" and that her multiple aspects are embodied in the differing March sisters.

      • The Arts
        March 1905

        Concerning the Spiritual in Art

        by Wassily Kandinsky

        A pioneering work in the movement to free art from its traditional bonds to material reality, this book is one of the most important documents in the history of modern art. Written by the famous nonobjective painter Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944), it explains Kandinsky's own theory of painting and crystallizes the ideas that were influencing many other modern artists of the period. Along with his own groundbreaking paintings, this book had a tremendous impact on the development of modern art. Kandinsky's ideas are presented in two parts. The first part, called "About General Aesthetic," issues a call for a spiritual revolution in painting that will let artists express their own inner lives in abstract, non-material terms. Just as musicians do not depend upon the material world for their music, so artists should not have to depend upon the material world for their art. In the second part, "About Painting," Kandinsky discusses the psychology of colors, the language of form and color, and the responsibilities of the artist. An Introduction by the translator, Michael T. H. Sadler, offers additional explanation of Kandinsky's art and theories, while a new Preface by Richard Stratton discusses Kandinsky's career as a whole and the impact of the book. Making the book even more valuable are nine woodcuts by Kandinsky himself that appear at the chapter headings. This English translation of Über das Geistige in der Kunst was a significant contribution to the understanding of nonobjectivism in art. It continues to be a stimulating and necessary reading experience for every artist, art student, and art patron concerned with the direction of 20th-century painting.

      • Trusted Partner
        December 2023

        Von Schutzengeln und Teufeln

        by Hans Traxler

        Bevor es die Teufel gab, war die Erde das reine Paradies. Das war schön, aber bald auch sehr langweilig. Da sah Gott, dass er eingreifen musste. Seither sorgten große und kleine Teufel dafür, dass es den Erdenbewohnern nie mehr langweilig wurde. Allerdings drohte ihnen jetzt durch die Übermacht des Bösen immer wieder ein allzu frühes Ende. Erneut musste der Herr der Heerscharen eingreifen. Nach ein paar Fehlversuchen brachte er ein akzeptables Modell zustande. So kamen die Schutzengel auf die Welt. Heute können wir uns ein Leben ohne sie nicht mehr vorstellen. Ohne die Teufel aber auch nicht. Hans Traxler hat sich eingehend mit beiden Spezies auseinandergesetzt, mit höllischem Vergnügen Wissens- und Liebenswertes zusammengetragen und mit leichter Hand in Bild und Text dokumentiert.

      • Trusted Partner
        November 2010

        Die Pariser Weltausstellung 1889

        Bilder von der Globalisierung

        by Beat Wyss

        Die gelungenste Weltausstellung aller Zeiten war die Exposition Universelle de Paris von 1889. Weit über 32 Millionen Menschen besuchten das gigantische Spektakel mit knapp 62.000 Ausstellern aus 54 Nationen und 17 französischen Kolonien. Das Wahrzeichen der Schau, der Eiffelturm, blieb Paris bis heute erhalten. Einen legendären Ruf erwarb sich auch das offizielle, wöchentlich erscheinende Journal der Weltausstellung. Auf großformatigen, mit Stahlstichen üppig illustrierten Seiten berichtete es von den Sensationen vor Ort, von dreirädrigen selbstfahrenden Karren und ethnologischen Dörfern, in denen es Kamelreiten für die Kinder und Bauchtänze für die Herren gab. Der Schweizer Kunsthistoriker Beat Wyss hat die hundert originellsten Abbildungen ausgewählt. Sie illustrieren, wie die Expo den Erdball auf ein »Weltdorf« zwischen Trocadéro und Champ de Mars schrumpfen lässt, wie räumliche Distanzen abgebaut und dabei kulturelle Differenzen freigelegt werden. Das späte 20. Jahrhundert wird dafür den Begriff der Globalisierung prägen. Beat Wyss zeigt, wie die Gesellschaften seit dem 19. Jahrhundert mit diesem Prozeß umgehen und mit der Verwestlichung der Welt eine Orientalisierung des Westens einhergeht. Dem Leser als Flaneur über die Bühne der Weltausstellung wird klar: Die Expo 1889 belegt nicht nur den aktuellen Zustand einer Zeit, sondern bietet über die spektakuläre Anordnung ihrer Exponate den Vorschein einer gesellschaftlichen Utopie.

      • Trusted Partner
      • Biography & True Stories
        February 1905

        Anna Karenina

        by Leo Tolstoy

      • May 1987

        Dracula

        by Bram Stoker

        Dracula is an 1897 Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. It introduced Count Dracula, and established many conventions of subsequent vampire fantasy. The novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so that he may find new blood and spread the undead curse, and of the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and a woman led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

      • Biography & True Stories
        March 1905

        Alaska Days with John Muir

        by Samuel Hall Young

        Samuel Hall Young, a Presbyterian clergyman, met John Muir when the great naturalist's steamboat docked at Fort Wrangell, in southeastern Alaska, where Young was a missionary to the Stickeen Indians. In "Alaska Days With John Muir" he describes this 1879 meeting: "A hearty grip of the hand and we seemed to coalesce in a friendship which, to me at least, has been one of the very best things in a life full of blessings." This book, first published in 1915, describes two journeys of discovery taken in company with Muir in 1879 and 1880. Despite the pleas of his missionary colleagues that he not risk life and limb with "that wild Muir," Young accompanied Muir in the exploration of Glacier Bay. Upon Muir's return to Alaska in 1880, they traveled together and mapped the inside route to Sitka. Young describes Muir's ability to "slide" up glaciers, the broad Scotch he used when he was enjoying himself, and his natural affinity for Indian wisdom and theistic religion. From the gripping account of their near-disastrous ascent of Glenora Peak to Young's perspective on Muir's famous dog story "Stickeen," Alaska Days is an engaging record of a friendship grounded in the shared wonders of Alaska's wild landscapes.

      • Humanities & Social Sciences
        November 1904

        Common Sense

        Addressed to The Inhabitants of America

        by Thomas Paine

        Published anonymously in 1776, six months before the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was a radical and impassioned call for America to free itself from British rule and set up an independent republican government. Savagely attacking hereditary kingship and aristocratic institutions, Paine urged a new beginning for his adopted country in which personal freedom and social equality would be upheld and economic and cultural progress encouraged.

      • Business, Economics & Law
        April 1905

        Creating Capital

        Money-making as an aim in business

        by Fredrick L. Lipman

        The object of this paper is to discuss money-making; to examine its prevalence as an aim among people generally and the moral standards which obtain among those who consciously seek to make money.

      • Business, Economics & Law
        April 1905

        The Acquisitive Society

        by R.H. Tawney

        This 1926 survey, written by a distinguished social and economic historian, examines the role of religion in the rise of capitalism. Arguing that material acquisitiveness is morally wrong and a corrupting social influence, the author draws upon his profound knowledge of labor and politics to show how concentrated wealth distorts economic policies. Colorful but credible, this study offers a timeless vision of alternative means toward a just economic, social, and intellectual order.

      • Business, Economics & Law
        March 1905

        The Path of the Law

        by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

        In The Path of the Law, Holmes discusses his personal philosophy on legal practice. The Common Law is a series of lectures that established Holmes's reputation as a witty and articulate writer.

      • Health & Personal Development
        March 1905

        Ginseng and Other Medicinal Plants

        by A. R. Harding

        This book is made up largely from the experiences of hunters and trappers who have dug "seng" and "seal" and who know much of their peculiarities, and scores are now successful growers.In adidtion to Ginseng and Golden Seal nearly 50 other medicinal plants are described--habits, range, price, uses, etc.

      • Lifestyle, Sport & Leisure
        March 1905

        How to Cook Fish

        by Myrtle Reed

        This book is a collection of recipes for fish cooking.

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